


Survivor

by ImPoorlyMade



Category: X-Men (Movies), X-Men - All Media Types, X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom, X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nazis, Nightmares, Pain, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-08
Updated: 2016-01-08
Packaged: 2018-05-12 13:16:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5667424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImPoorlyMade/pseuds/ImPoorlyMade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After all those years knowing Erik, it was alarming that the nightmares came as a surprise to Charles...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Survivor

        The last thing the telepath expected to wake up to at two in the morning was his face eight inches from a wall that was usually over eight feet away. Another thing he didn't expect was the loud crash of something glass shattering in the next room, and then the quiet, pained whimper of the metal-bender asleep next to him.

        Their relationship had been difficult, a constant denial of feelings from the day Charles saved Erik in the ocean until the night before, a tender moment having been shared between the two before Charles fell asleep in Erik's arms, his face buried in the warm, soft t-shirt as he drifted off.

        Now, they were on opposite sides of the bed, Erik whimpering, shifting visibly and constantly readjusting himself, while Charles took hold of a fist full of his pajama pants next to his thigh to pull the dead weight of his legs over with him as he turned to face the other mutant. Erik's expression was conveying such an immense amount of pain that Charles would have thought someone was stabbing him in the side had they not been the only ones in the room. Just seeing Erik like that was enough to strike an extreme sadness in the telepath's heart. Usually, Erik was the tough one, leaving Charles to scream or cry his emotions out until he was satisfied. He'd never seen Erik like this, so fragile, and slowly began lowering one of his mental blocks, the ones that he kept up at all times to ensure he didn't go insane from the conglomeration of voices in his head. The telepath winced as he suddenly felt a sharp pain pierce his mind, realizing it was from Erik's own, a frown carving itself into his lips as he heard Shaw's voice. Everything echoed in his mind, _"Outstanding, Erik. So we unlock your gift with anger."_ Another soft, weak sound of suffering left the metal-bender's lips and his brow furrowed. _"Anger and pain. You and me... We're going to have a lot of fun together."_

        Charles continued to hear those thoughts drifting into his head from Erik's, and even though he knew it was a bad idea, he reached out and placed two fingers on the metal bender's temple, not letting his presence in the other's subconscious be known.

        Flashes of Erik's time in the camps in Auschwitz flickered by, and Charles could feel Erik's jaw tensing as he laid his hand on his cheek. A mind only became so muddled and memories so choppy when one was experiencing or reliving something horrible, Charles knew that by now. He watched as the young Erik was being held down by two Nazi officers in a chair, a number being printed into his arm with a clearly unsanitary needle as Shaw watched from across the room. Then, Erik was lying on a table in Shaw's office, the German doctor carving out his gold fillings without a care for the young boy's bleeding mouth as he nearly shrieked in pain. The same sort of images continued to plague Erik's mind, and therefore Charles': the young boy being dragged through the mud by an officer; watching as his mother was shot and killed; working as a Kapo in the camps and being forced to beat the prisoners who disobeyed; being "promoted" to a Kommando where he was instructed to yank out the teeth of some of the dead prisoners with pliers, many of them his friends; solemnly watching the smoke billow from the chimneys of the crematoriums where other prisoners were being burned alive; his blood being extracted by Shaw; receiving the lacerations from Shaw that would scar him both physically and mentally for the rest of his life; listening to the shrill screams of agony coming from every corner of the rainy and mud-ridden camp.

        The second Charles heard those screams he drug himself out of Erik's mind again, his breathing hard and shaky. He understood now what the metal-bender was experiencing. It wasn't physical pain, but excruciating emotional pain, which could be just as bad, if not worse, especially in the form of nightmares. The telepath flinched in shock as the bed skidded down and slammed into the wall in front of them, Erik whimpering loudly almost simultaneously with the movement. Charles' framed document from Oxford University, certifying his degree, fell to the floor not seconds later, the crack spider-webbing the glass. Somehow the other mutant was still sound asleep, unable to pull himself out of the traumatic nightmares, involuntarily using his powers because he had no control of what was happening in his mind.

        With quite a struggle, the professor managed to sit himself up on the bed to lean back against the metal headboard, which miraculously hadn't been twisted around or torn apart yet in Erik's distressed state. He then brushed a hand through the short hair of the metal-bender and murmured gently, "Erik... I need you to wake up now..." with a slight amount of telepathic influence to persuade the anguished man to awaken.

        Erik's eyelids slid open halfway, and his confused, teary gaze was cast up at Charles as he laid there, his body beginning to tremble from the absolute fear and pain he was experiencing. "What is it...?" He whispered in a cracked voice, which seemed to somehow weaken him even further.

        "I want you to know that I'm here for you, Erik... I'll always be here for you..." The telepath said quietly, consolingly, as he combed his fingers through the other man's hair slowly.

        It didn't take long for Erik to realize that Charles had been inside his head while he was asleep, and he simply shook his head as he rested his face against Charles' pajama-clad hip and shut his eyes again, taking a deep, shaky breath as a tremor ran through his spine. "I'm fine. This is normal."

        "Does this happen every night?" He let his hand trail lightly down the metal-bender's cheek, wiping away the single tear that had managed to escape despite Erik's clear efforts to repress it.

        "Never had a night without them. Not since..." And it was here where Erik trailed off, his torso suddenly wracked with sobs, giving up on the tough act and letting the tears roll down his cheeks and wet Charles' shirt, his body joining in the vulnerability as every inch of him quivered.

        "Shh, shh... It's alright... Everything is alright... I'm here for you now..." Charles was automatically pulling Erik up, arms sliding around his middle to hold the metal bender against his chest, burying his face in Erik's hair. Erik's face was now pressed against Charles' chest as he remained weeping, but it soon progressed into pained, hiccuping sobs as one of his hands gripped Charles' shirt at his side and the other merely rested on the opposite side of his rib cage. He had curled into the other mutant within seconds, letting his weakness show, letting the only man he would ever entirely trust see the side of him that he never thought anyone would witness.

        "I'm sorry..." The words came out as choked sobs as Erik's tears began soaking through the telepath's shirt, but Charles didn't care. No, he still saw Erik as strong, and driven, despite what he was seeing now. Only an emotionless monster would be able to go through what Erik did without a few scars, and Charles would never believe that's what Erik was.

        "You have nothing to be sorry for, my dear... Go back to sleep... I'll keep the nightmares away now..." The telepath pressed a tender kiss to the top of Erik's head and held him close, letting Erik soak up the warmth and the comfort of being so near to the only person he truly cared for. Charles projected images into the metal-bender's mind of the night before, the delicate kiss they shared, the way they had gazed into each others' eyes with all the admiration in the world, the gentle caresses to each others' cheeks, necks, and hair...

        Erik's sobs progressively quieted, and his body began relaxing, leaving only a pounding headache and tear-stained cheeks as evidence of his grieving. He slept the rest of the night in peace, Charles staying awake and using his powers to keep the nightmares at bay, relishing in the feeling of, after so many years, finally being able to hold Erik close. His love, the one who completed him. His **survivor**.

 

 


End file.
